Betamax, VHS, and the Launch of the Format War

In ‘This Week in History,’ the rise of the VCR led to a corporate scramble for standard video formatting, resulting in a famous tech standoff.
Betamax, VHS, and the Launch of the Format War
After various versions of videocassettes appeared during the 1960s and early 1970s, the introduction of Betamax and VHS sparked what became known as the Format War. Leo/Shutterstock
Dustin Bass
Updated:
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The first Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was scheduled for June 1967 in Chicago at the original McCormick Place. McCormick Place was then a 500,000-plus-square-foot exhibition center with restaurants, banquet rooms, and a theater—the perfect spot for the inaugural exhibit that would eventually become the world’s largest annual trade show. In January 1967, a fire consumed the building, leaving the organizers of the CES scrambling for a new location. They chose the Hilton and Americana hotels in New York City.

The original McCormick Place, completed in 1960, seen in 1966 from Lake Michigan before its destruction by fire in 1967. Future CES shows were held here from 1978 until 1994. (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jstennel">Jstennel</a>/<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>)
The original McCormick Place, completed in 1960, seen in 1966 from Lake Michigan before its destruction by fire in 1967. Future CES shows were held here from 1978 until 1994. Jstennel/CC BY-SA 4.0

Despite the change, approximately 17,500 people attended the CES with more than 100 exhibitors. This event showcased the newest technologies and electronic innovations, including pocket radios and TVs with integrated circuits. Some of the world’s most innovative and important corporations were represented, especially those from the United States and Japan, like Motorola, RCA, Westinghouse, Sharp, Toshiba, and Sony.

Audiovisual electronics had become a burgeoning industry, and, as can be inferred from the corporations represented at the first CES, America and Japan were leading the charge. It was at the CES’s 10th anniversary in Chicago that one of the most consequential announcements was made, sparking what would become known as the Format War.

New Technologies

Three years before the inaugural CES, a team led by Sony engineer, Nobutoshi Kihara, developed the world’s first home-based videocassette recorder (VCR) called the CV-2000.

A 1965 Sony advertisement in America proclaimed, “You can electronically record anything you see or hear, and play it back instantly. You can record and keep anything you see on your TV set. You can erase the tape immediately and reuse it, or keep it indefinitely.”

With its 2,370 feet of reel, consumers could connect the VCR to their TV and record shows for a whole hour. Sony also released its VCK-2000 TV camera and microphone with which users could record themselves or events. Although it was created primarily for home use, the CV-2000, with its reel-to-reel technology that displayed black-and-white images, was most commonly found in institutions like schools and hospitals.

Kihara, who also developed the groundbreaking Walkman (he was often called Mr. Walkman), met a new demand: an easier to use VCR that played back color images. It was suggested that instead of a reel-to-reel format, Kihara create something along the lines of the cassette tape.

“The construction of a VCR is very complex,” Kihara argued. “It will be extremely difficult to build a machine that will use a cassette tape, let alone in color. You don’t understand what you are asking the engineers to do!”
Early models of consumer video tape recorders (VTRs), and most professional broadcast analog videotape machines (for example, 1-inch Type C) used reel to reel tape spools. (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Gunnar_maas">Gunnar maas</a>/<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>)
Early models of consumer video tape recorders (VTRs), and most professional broadcast analog videotape machines (for example, 1-inch Type C) used reel to reel tape spools. Gunnar maas/CC BY-SA 3.0

A Competitive Arena

The Sony founders, Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, however, knew that the demand for improved technology was ongoing and with a quickly expanding industry, falling behind could be ruinous. The Sony engineers got to work.

Their goal was to tackle the color issue, design an easy-to-use automatic loading function, and design a new videocassette tape. By the fall of 1969, Kihara had produced an acceptable prototype called the U-Matic. But it was just a prototype. Kihara and his team worked on a design better suited for home use.

While the Sony team was hard at work on a new VCR, so were other corporations in Japan, America, and Europe. When the CES hosted its exhibition in 1970, the European-based Philips Corporation presented its new VCR, the N1500.

The new VCR, with a TV tuner and an internal clock, allowed people to watch a show and record another at the same time. The N1500, however, wasn’t released until 1972, a year after Sony finally released its U-Matic video tape recorder (VTR). Philips still won out in the effort to get into homes, as Sony’s development remained more feasible for institutions.

The Philips N1500 video recorder from the early 1970s. (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Video99">Colin McCormick</a>/<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>)
The Philips N1500 video recorder from the early 1970s. Colin McCormick/CC BY-SA 3.0
Not to be outdone, the Hollywood studio behemoths eyed ways to enter the audiovisual format industry. On Dec. 12, 1972, Music Corporation of America (MCA) held a press briefing at Universal Studios about a new video venture it had been working on for several years called Disco-Vision. With access to more than 11,000 film titles, the company seemed poised to be a strong industry competitor. Coincidentally, representatives of Philips were in attendance and, impressed by what they saw, sought to collaborate with the American company on the video disc format. The Disco-Vision venture, which witnessed collaborations with MCA, Philips, and Pioneer, eventually fell by the wayside.

The Game-Changer

The same year that Philips released its N1500 and MCA made its Disco-Vision announcement, Sony released its VO-1700, a U-Matic color VCR. Though Sony lagged in making the VCR home friendly, its agreement with other manufacturers, like Toshiba, Sanyo, and Aiwa, made its U-Matic 3/4-inch wide tapes the standard. That, however, was soon to change by its own doing.

In April 1975, Sony released its SL-6300 VCR. The difference with this one was that the tape it used was a videocassette the size of a Japanese paperback book with half-inch wide tape. It was called Betamax and it was the brainchild of Ibuka. Ibuka’s vision was that this would become the cassette format for VCRs moving forward. Later that same year, Sony released the LV-1901—a three-product-in-one that combined its Trinitron color TV, VCR, which now was Betamax-specific.

When the Betamax was released, Sony co-founder Morita called the technology a “time-shift” since the VCR could allow consumers to “shift time” by watching one show and recording another simultaneously. An American advertisement made the claim that “Now you don’t have to miss ‘Kojak’ because you’re watching ‘Columbo’ (or vice versa).” The claim raised a red flag at Universal Studios and resulted in an eight-year legal battle over copyright infringement—a battle Sony eventually won in a 5–4 Supreme Court decision.

A 1982 booth at CES promoting the right to make home recordings. The Supreme Court decision was reached in 1984. (<a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/42274165@N00">Alan Light</a>/<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a>)
A 1982 booth at CES promoting the right to make home recordings. The Supreme Court decision was reached in 1984. Alan Light/CC BY 2.0

A Surprising Competitor

As troubling as this eight-year battle was for rights in the massive American market, Sony was blindsided by a new problem.

Sony had partnered with Japan Victor Company (JVC) and its parent company Matsushita (now Panasonic) with its U-matic cassette format. There was no signed agreement with Matsushita and JVC regarding Betamax, but this didn’t stop Sony from sharing its information. The mistake proved costly.

In September 1976, JVC announced it had produced a new videocassette called the Video Home System, more commonly known as VHS. But could the VHS actually outpace what was a superior product in the Betamax and a product that was already on the market? The Betamax was not only smaller, its picture and sound quality surpassed that of the VHS. But the soon-to-be-released VHS had a longer recording time (two hours compared to one) and, most importantly, it promised to be cheaper.

Nonetheless, Sony had its backers: Toshiba, Sanyo Electric, NEC, Aiwa, and Pioneer. JVC had its backers: Matsushita, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, Sharp, and Akai Electric. A Japanese showdown was brewing, but what about the coveted American consumer? That would be decided at the Consumer Electronics Show.

A Declaration of War

The CES organizers had been trying to work out how to garner more attendees and exhibitors. Even with the rebuilt McCormick Place in Chicago, the city continued to prove less than hospitable—financially and weatherwise especially. The 10th anniversary CES, which took place in January 1977 in Chicago was more or less a flop; temperatures plummeted into the negatives with a wind chill factor of minus 45 degrees. It was the last winter show in Chicago, as the CES moved to Las Vegas starting in 1978 (where it now has its lone annual show).
The organizers decided to institute two shows—a winter and a summer show (which Chicago did host). While the winter show was memorable for its weather and the introduction of “the first fully equipped, ready-to-use Personal Computer in the world: the Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor,” the summer show would be remembered for a very different reason: the start of a war.

A month after the winter CES, Masaharu Matsushita, the president of Matsushita, began negotiations with American companies regarding the manufacturing of the VHS. By the time summer arrived, Sony’s Betamax, despite its two-year head start, was moving into the rear.

The Consumer Electronics Show was scheduled for June 5 to June 8, but the executives of JVC had plans to start the party early. It was during this week in history, on June 4, 1977, that JVC not only announced its intention of heading off the Betamax videocassette, it displayed its intention.

An article in Popular Mechanics written by John Free on the CES began with the subhead “JVC’s VCR spectacular.” Free noted, “JVC introduced its new Vidstar VHS ... in a lavish display at the summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. Options for the video-cassette recorder include the least expensive color-TV camera yet. … The two-hour VCR is exceptionally compact—smaller, in fact, than some audio-cassette decks. Taped pictures from the camera and a master tape were excellent. … A two-hour tape is $20.”
The U.S. version of the JVC HR-3300 is virtually identical to the Japanese version. Japan's version showed the "Victor" name and didn't use the "VIDSTAR" name. (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Groink">Groink</a>/<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>)
The U.S. version of the JVC HR-3300 is virtually identical to the Japanese version. Japan's version showed the "Victor" name and didn't use the "VIDSTAR" name. Groink/CC BY-SA 3.0
The Format War had begun in earnest and it was a war that Sony wound up losing. Sony soon began creating VHS cassettes, leading Morita to state, “Speaking frankly, we didn’t want to manufacture VHS. However, you don’t conduct business according to your feelings. Let’s look at reality. The demand is getting stronger in the marketplace for Sony-made VHS products. Even if we have to bite the bullet, we ought to begin manufacturing VHS products for the sake of future growth.”
VHS was now the future, and it was a future it dominated for decades. As one commentator on the Format War wrote, “In the end, Betamax’s superior picture, video and sound quality lost out to the preference for affordability. VHS’s cheaper production costs and longer recording times were vastly preferred by filming companies looking to make their mark in the home video rental market. Eventually, VHS overwhelmed Betamax in sales numbers and exploded in popularity, officially ending the format war in its favor.”
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Dustin Bass
Dustin Bass
Author
Dustin Bass is the creator and host of the American Tales podcast, and co-founder of The Sons of History. He writes two weekly series for The Epoch Times: Profiles in History and This Week in History. He is also an author.